Monday, 5 July 2010

There are two blogs for July 2010. The first looks at Madonna's UK singles discography from 1984 to 1986, and the second looks at the material recorded (but not always released) by The Rolling Stones in the 1960s. Click on the relevant tab on the right hand side of this page.

The British Music Industry was far more moralistic in the 1960s than it is now. A band would release a single, maybe an EP, and would then issue an LP which would almost certainly include entirely new material - the songs from the single and the EP would not be included. This was because UK record labels and the bands were concerned that the fans might end up buying records where they would end up with the same song twice. There were, of course, exceptions - The Who’s “My Generation” was lifted from the album of the same name, whilst most of The Beatles’ EP’s were nothing more than mini-Greatest Hits sets that included songs which had already charted as singles.

The Rolling Stones were signed to Decca in the UK, and made a habit of including mostly exclusive material on every new release. In the USA though, it was a different story. There, they were signed to London, who saw a hit single as a perfect marketing tool - a hit single could be used to sell an album. After all, if you were somebody who had to be enticed to buy an LP, would you sooner buy an album that included “Satisfaction”, a song you would have heard on the radio, or an album that didn’t include it?

As a result, London altered the tracklistings of the LP’s The Stones issued stateside. Wherever possible, they would include recent hit singles on the band’s new album - but given that US albums were usually the same length (if not shorter) than their UK counterparts, this was done at the expense of non-singles, and these were dropped from the records to make way for their more famous cousins.

Because of this, only a year after the band had released their first record, the amount of material unissued in the US was enough for London to compile an American-only LP, “The Rolling Stones Now!” that compiled most of this missing material. The situation of UK album tracks being removed in favour of hit singles continued for several years, so much so that more of these US only albums were later released. By the end of the 60s, the Stones had released 12 albums in the US, but only 8 in the UK.

Rather strangely, when London did release another US only album, they didn’t necessarily include all of the material that was unreleased in the US, and by the early 1970s, there was a batch of material which had been released in the UK but not the States. Even more baffling, was that on the 1967 US LP “Flowers”, the set was padded out with a number of tracks that had not actually been released in the UK - and were not to do so until the 70s or 80s!

This article attempts to list, in the order in which they were released, the differences between the US and UK albums that the Stones recorded in the 1960s, and the material that got “left over” after each album. Included are the two albums issued by Decca and London in 1970 and 1975 - the former a live album from gigs taped in 1969, the latter a set of “previously unreleased material” recorded throughout the decade. Also included are the compilation albums issued by Decca and London up until 1975, as most of these were released primarily to include material previously unreleased in either the UK or the US. Not included are any of the compilations released after 1975, as these were either simple Greatest Hits sets that included no rare material, or included material that had previously been unissued in both the UK AND the US during the Sixties (for the record, these are the UK only “Slow Rollers” from 1981, with an Italian version of “As Tears Go By” and a recent expanded reissue of “Get Yer Ya Ya’s Out”). I have, however, included the box sets released from 1989 to the present day, as well as listing details of the reissue campaigns from the 80s, 90s and beyond, as all of these had the effect of resulting in previously-unreleased-in-the-US material being made available in America, with a similar effect occurring in the UK.

The article consists of segments. Each segment relates to the release of a UK or US LP, with a list thereafter of what songs remained unreleased in which country after the release of that record. UK and US LP’s were always issued on different dates (sometimes a day apart, sometimes months) and the list of unreleased songs are given at a date which occurs one day after the release of the UK or US LP, whichever was released later. Where the US and UK albums were released in a different order, both albums are grouped together and discussed in one segment. It is worth noting that in some cases, the US version of a UK album differed significantly, and in many cases, a US album would be released so late after it’s UK version, that the band’s next UK album was only a few months away. As such, some of the “unreleased in the UK” material shown would actually be released relatively soon after.

After the release of 1969’s “Through The Past Darkly”, the idea of a US record differing from a UK one ceased, and the list of unreleased material shown after that segment is also the list of “missing” songs as at 1st January 1970. Following segments look at batches of albums in most cases (rather than individual ones), and the reissue campaigns, in the order in which these records were released or reissued.

As somebody who wasn’t born until 1972, a lot of this article has been done from my own collection which was obtained many years after these records were first released, and from details noted on several Stones websites. As such, there could be some errors - in particular regarding the original release dates of certain mixes that appeared in one country and not the other (“The Lantern”, “Street Fighting Man”, etc). I have attempted to list the point at which these mixes first appeared in one country, and when they finally appeared in the other, but if you believe these dates are incorrect, you can add a comment regarding this at the bottom of this article, or email me and I will credit your notes.

So without further ado, let’s look at the Greatest Rock And Roll Band In The World - Ladies and Gentlemen, The Rolling Stones.

The Rolling Stones / England’s Newest Hitmakers

The Stones’ recording career began with the release of a pair of UK only 7” singles, “Come On”/”I Want To Be Loved” and “I Wanna Be Your Man”/”Stoned”. The next 45, “Not Fade Away” was issued on both sides of the Atlantic, with a new song “Little By Little” on the flip of the UK release - in the US, this was replaced instead by “I Wanna Be Your Man”. Six other songs were also issued in the UK that failed to surface in the US at the same time - “Fortune Teller” and “Poison Ivy” had been recorded with a view to them being issued on what would have been the band’s second single, but it’s release was cancelled and the songs were instead included on a compilation LP called “Saturday Club”. An alternate version of “Poison Ivy” was released on the “Rolling Stones” EP, along with “Bye Bye Johnny”, “You Better Move On” and “Money”.

The band’s debut LP was released in the UK as a self titled affair, but was retitled in the US. The basic picture sleeve remained the same, but “Mona” was removed from the record so that “Not Fade Away” could be shoe-horned onto the US version. “Little By Little” was included on both the UK and US versions, but there was no space for either side of the debut UK 45, nor “Stoned”.

The next release for the band was the 7” “It’s All Over Now”/”Good Times Bad Times”, which was released in both the UK and US. However, the next EP “5x5” was released in the UK only. Conversely, “Tell Me” was issued in edited form in the States, with “I Just Want To Make Love To You” from the first LP on the flip. As “Tell Me” was not released in the UK, this mix became the first Stones recording to be issued in America, but not Britain.

Another US only single, “Time Is On My Side”/”Congratulations” followed thereafter before the release of what is generally considered to be the band’s first real “US only” LP, “12x5”. The LP took it’s title from the “5x5” EP, which was so named as it included five songs, and there were five members in the band - guess how many songs were on “12x5”?

“12x5” included all tracks from the “5x5” EP, plus both sides of the “It’s All Over Now” and “Time Is On My Side” singles, along with three new tracks - “Under The Boardwalk”, “Grown Up Wrong” and “Susie Q”. Thereafter, the band released a UK only 45 (“Little Red Rooster”/”Off The Hook”) and a US only one (“Heart Of Stone”/”What A Shame”).

In the UK, the second LP was titled “No 2”, and came in the same cover as “12x5”. The three new songs from “12x5” were joined by the B-sides “Off The Hook” and “What A Shame”, plus seven new songs, including a version of “Time Is On My Side” which replaced the organ intro of the US single and album version with a guitar intro.

Unissued in US as at 16/1/1965

Come On, I Want To Be Loved, Stoned, Bye Bye Johnny, You Better Move On, Money, Poison Ivy, Poison Ivy (EP Version), Fortune Teller, Mona, Little Red Rooster, Off The Hook, Everybody Needs Somebody To Love, Down Home Girl, You Cant Catch Me, Time Is On My Side (Guitar), Down The Road Apiece, I Can’t Be Satisified, Pain In My Heart

Unissued in UK

Tell Me (Edit), Time Is On My Side (Organ), Congratulations, Heart Of Stone

The Rolling Stones Now!

The amount of unreleased material in the US resulted in this exclusive American set. Most of the new material from “No 2” was included, but for some reason, “I Can’t Be Satisfied” was omitted. “Mona” appeared for the first time in the US instead, along with both sides of the “Little Red Rooster” and “Heart Of Stone” 7”’s.

Strangely, the version of “Everybody Needs Somebody To Love” that was included was two minutes shorter than the version which opened “No 2”. “Now” tended to otherwise mirror that release in parts - alternate versions aside, the opening three tracks were the same on both records. Side 2 of the record included two songs unreleased in the UK at the time, “Oh Baby” and “Surprise Surprise”, but the “Guitar” version of “Time Is On My Side” remained unissued Stateside.

“OOOH” was the first Stones LP to have it’s titled shared by both UK and US labels, but the artwork and tracklisting differed completely on each. The US LP featured a photo from the same session as that for “12x5”, which seemed a bit cheap.

After the release of “The Last Time”/”Play With Fire” in both countries, the band released what remains possibly their most famous tune - “Satisfaction”. The single was released first in the US, backed with “The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man”, before getting a delayed UK release with a different b-side - “The Spider And The Fly”. Thereafter, the band released their last UK EP “Got Live If You Want It”, which featured five previously unissued live recordings - two songs of which had never been released by the band in any form previously. The EP was not issued in the US.

The US LP was released first - along with “The Spider And The Fly”, it included six more new songs. Once again, hit singles were squeezed on in the form of “Satisfaction” and “The Last Time”, along with their accompanying B-sides. Another odd inclusion was “I’m Alright” from the “Got Live If You Want It” EP - not the last time that a new US studio LP would in fact include live material!

The UK LP removed material already issued in the UK (such as “Satisfaction”) and instead included new material - four songs not on the US version were included. “The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man” was released in the UK for the first time, but “One More Try” from the US LP was left off.

Tell Me (Edit), Time Is On My Side (Organ), Congratulations, Everybody Needs Somebody (Edit), Surprise Surprise, One More Try

Decembers Children

The next US only record, which used the same sleeve as the UK edition of “Out Of Our Heads”. On the face of it, it was a real “odds and sods” set as it included two more live songs from the “Got Live If You Want It” EP, but looking more closely, actually featured a track listing that was vaguely based around the UK “OOOH”.

The LP was preceded by the “Get Off Of My Cloud” 45, which again featured different B-sides on different sides of the Atlantic. The UK b-side, “The Singer Not The Song”, made the album, along with one track from the “Rolling Stones” EP, “You Better Move On”. Both “Get Off Of My Cloud” and it’s US b-side, “I’m Free” were included, whilst three new songs were spread across both sides of the disc - “Look What You’ve Done”, “As Tears Go By” and “Blue Turns To Grey”.

A bit confusing here - in the US, the band’s first “Greatest Hits” record appeared before the next studio record, unlike in the UK. Both records were preceded by a new single, “19th Nervous Breakdown”, which was backed by “As Tears Go By” in the UK. In the US, this track was replaced by a new track, “Sad Day” instead.

“Big Hits” was a bit pointless as far as it’s US release was concerned - because London had released so many Stones singles on studio albums, most of the songs on the album were therefore already available “on LP”. “19th Nervous Breakdown” was included, as was the previously unavailable-in-the-US “Guitar” mix of “Time Is On My Side”.

In the same month that “Big Hits” appeared in the states, “Aftermath” appeared in the UK - regarded by many as the best of the band’s “early period” albums. Everything on the album was previously unissued in either the UK or the US. It was followed by a stand alone single “Paint It Black”, with “Long Long While” on the flip. “Paint It Black” also got a US release, but the B-side was changed to “Stupid Girl”.

Rather pointlessly, for the US release of “Aftermath”, both “Paint It Black” and “Stupid Girl” were used to open the American version of the LP, which was also housed in a completely different sleeve. No less than four songs were omitted for the US release, “Mothers Little Helper”, “Out Of Time”, “Take It Or Leave It” and “What To Do”. This meant that whilst the UK version of the record had a 50 minute plus running time, the US one was barely 40 minutes long. The lengthy 10-minute-plus jam “Going Home” was still included, but was moved from the end of side 1 to the end of side 2 in the States. “Mothers Little Helper” was instead issued as a single just prior to the release of the US edition, backed with album track “Lady Jane”.

After the astonishing stand alone 45 “Have You Seen Your Mother Baby Standing In The Shadow?”/”Who’s Driving Your Plane” was released in both countries, the UK version of “Big Hits” was finally released. This made more sense than it’s US counterpart, as most of these songs had not been issued on a UK album before. It came in a superb picture sleeve, included “Have You Seen Your Mother…” and opted to include only A and B sides previously available - meaning that “Sad Day” remained unissued in the band’s home country at the end of the year.

Unissued in US as at 5/11/1966

Come On, I Want To Be Loved, Stoned, Bye Bye Johnny, Money, Poison Ivy, Poison Ivy (EP Version), Fortune Teller, Everybody Needs Somebody To Love (Long), I Can’t Be Satisified, Got Live If You Want It EP (except I’m Alright, Route 66, I’m Moving On), Long Long While, Out Of Time, Take It Or Leave It, What To Do

Unissued in UK

Tell Me (Edit), Time Is On My Side (Organ), Congratulations, Everybody Needs Somebody (Edit), Surprise Surprise, One More Try, Look What You’ve Done, Blue Turns To Grey, Sad Day

Got Live If You Want It

One of the more dubious Stones releases, this was a US only LP which despite taking it’s title from an earlier UK EP, bore no resemblance to that record. Even the one track that had appeared on the EP that appeared on this LP, “I’m Alright”, was a different version - some reports state it was taped at a different gig, and others claim it‘s actually the same backing track but with newly recorded vocals.

Despite claims the whole record was from a show at the Royal Albert Hall in London, not one song was even taped in the capital. The version of “Fortune Teller” that was included was from the “Saturday Club” LP, but with crowd noise dubbed over the top - the same went for the album’s one “new” song, “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long”. The band later disowned the album.

Unissued in US as at 11/12/1966

Come On, I Want To Be Loved, Stoned, Bye Bye Johnny, Money, Poison Ivy, Poison Ivy (EP Version), Fortune Teller, Everybody Needs Somebody To Love (Long), I Can’t Be Satisified, Got Live If You Want It EP (except I’m Alright, Route 66, I’m Moving On), Long Long While, Out Of Time, Take It Or Leave It, What To Do

Unissued in UK

Tell Me (Edit), Time Is On My Side (Organ), Congratulations, Everybody Needs Somebody (Edit), Surprise Surprise, One More Try, Look What You've Done, Blue Turns To Grey, Sad Day, Got Live If You Want It LP

Between The Buttons

The first Stones LP where both the UK and US labels agreed on a title, and a sleeve - but not a track listing. The record was preceded by a mighty AA-side 45 “Let’s Spend The Night Together”/”Ruby Tuesday” and London decided to include both songs on the LP. Decca, as usual, opted for entirely new material, meaning “Back Street Girl” and “Please Go Home” were to remain unissued in the States for several months.

Unissued in US as at 12/2/1967

Come On, I Want To Be Loved, Stoned, Bye Bye Johnny, Money, Poison Ivy, Poison Ivy (EP Version), Fortune Teller, Everybody Needs Somebody To Love (Long), I Can’t Be Satisified, Got Live If You Want It EP (except I’m Alright, Route 66, I’m Moving On), Long Long While, Out Of Time, Take It Or Leave It, What To Do, Back Street Girl, Please Go Home

Unissued in UK

Tell Me (Edit), Time Is On My Side (Organ), Congratulations, Everybody Needs Somebody (Edit), Surprise Surprise, One More Try, Look What You’ve Done, Blue Turns To Grey, Sad Day, Got Live If You Want It LP

Flowers

Given that the Stones had amassed a sizeable amount of material that was not available in the US, “Flowers” would have been a good opportunity to try and collate these songs. But instead, it was more like a “Big Hits 2”, consisting mostly of singles, and included the two hits only recently shoved onto the US “Between The Buttons!”

Although “Take It Or Leave It” from the UK release of “Aftermath” was included, the record succeeded instead in creating more rarities by including four songs that had not been released anywhere before. “Ride On Baby” and “Sittin’ On A Fence” closed the record, whilst the band’s cover of “My Girl” also made it’s debut. It’s not surprising this had not been released before - universally acknowledged as the worst thing the band ever recorded, it really is as shonky as people say it is. Another “Aftermath” song, “Out Of Time” was included - but for some reason, this version was heavily edited, meaning that the version of the song now available in the US differed from the one available in the UK. Bizarre.

Unissued in US as at 16/7/1967

Come On, I Want To Be Loved, Stoned, Bye Bye Johnny, Money, Poison Ivy, Poison Ivy (EP Version), Fortune Teller, Everybody Needs Somebody To Love (Long), I Can’t Be Satisified, Got Live If You Want It EP (except I’m Alright, Route 66, I’m Moving On), Long Long While, Out Of Time (Unedited), What To Do

Unissued in UK

Tell Me (Edit), Time Is On My Side (Organ), Congratulations, Everybody Needs Somebody (Edit), Surprise Surprise, One More Try, Look What You’ve Done, Blue Turns To Grey, Sad Day, Got Live If You Want It LP, Out Of Time (Edit), My Girl, Ride On Baby, Sitting On A Fence

Their Satanic Majesties Request

And so, finally, Decca and London saw eye to eye. “Their Satanic Majesties Request” was identical in sound, vision and title both sides of the pond. The LP had been trailed by another miraculous 45, “We Love You”/”Dandelion”, but neither of these songs were included on the album. In the US, the album was previewed by the release of “In Another Land”/”The Lantern” - because the A-side was a Bill Wyman composition, the sleeve referred to the single as “Bill Wyman’s In Another Land”, despite the fact that Jagger could quite clearly be heard doing backing vocals. An alternate mix of “The Lantern” with extra guitar overdubs exists, and I do believe it first surfaced on this single. If you know otherwise, feel free to get in touch.

“She’s A Rainbow” was also issued as a single, in edited form, with the “announcer intro” stripped off the start of the song - again, as this was a US only single, this mix again remained unissued in the UK at the time. The b-side was the album version of “2000 Light Years From Home”.

Unissued in US as at 10/12/1967

Come On, I Want To Be Loved, Stoned, Bye Bye Johnny, Money, Poison Ivy, Poison Ivy (EP Version), Fortune Teller, Everybody Needs Somebody To Love (Long), I Can’t Be Satisified, Got Live If You Want It EP (except I’m Alright, Route 66, I’m Moving On), Long Long While, Out Of Time (Unedited), What To Do

Unissued in UK

Tell Me (Edit), Time Is On My Side (Organ), Congratulations, Everybody Needs Somebody (Edit), Surprise Surprise, One More Try, Look What You’ve Done, Blue Turns To Grey, Sad Day, Got Live If You Want It LP, Out Of Time (Edit), My Girl, Ride On Baby, Sitting On A Fence, The Lantern (US Single Mix), She’s A Rainbow (Edit)

Beggars Banquet

The first LP from the “classic albums” period, “Beggars Banquet” was again preceded by a stand alone 45, “Jumping Jack Flash”/”Child Of The Moon” both in the USA and the UK. In America, it was followed up by a preview single from the LP, “Street Fighting Man”/”No Expectations”. This single famously was at first to be issued in what is referred to as the “Riot” picture sleeve, which featured a photo of a policeman attacking a civilian, but was withdrawn due to it’s controversial nature immediately. The single was then simply issued in a London company paper sleeve. There was no UK release for the single.

The version of “Street Fighting Man” that appeared on “Beggars Banquet” was a different mix to that which had been released as a single, although “No Expectations” was the same version. At the time, the album was issued in many countries in a plain white sleeve with the band name and title printed in black, because the sleeve that the band had wanted to use (a photo of a bathroom, complete with rather grubby looking toilet) was deemed to be offensive. As the years have passed, the “toilet” sleeve has actually become the more common version.

Unissued in US as at 8/12/1968

Come On, I Want To Be Loved, Stoned, Bye Bye Johnny, Money, Poison Ivy, Poison Ivy (EP Version), Fortune Teller, Everybody Needs Somebody To Love (Long), I Can’t Be Satisified, Got Live If You Want It EP (except I’m Alright, Route 66, I’m Moving On), Long Long While, Out Of Time (Unedited), What To Do

Unissued in UK

Tell Me (Edit), Time Is On My Side (Organ), Congratulations, Everybody Needs Somebody (Edit), Surprise Surprise, One More Try, Look What You’ve Done, Blue Turns To Grey, Sad Day, Got Live If You Want It LP, Out Of Time (Edit), My Girl, Ride On Baby, Sitting On A Fence, The Lantern (US Single Mix), She’s A Rainbow (Edit), Street Fighting Man (Single Mix)

Through The Past Darkly

The last “stand alone” single from the Stones was 1969’s “Honky Tonk Women”, which included a then-new B-side in the form of “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” - an extended version of which would later appear on the “Let It Bleed” long player. Soon after, another hits set was issued in the UK, but for a so-called Hits album, the track listing was a bit odd - B-sides and album tracks were included, as were “You Better Move On” from the first EP, and the previously unreleased-in-the-UK song, “Sittin’ On A Fence”.

“She’s A Rainbow”, a US-only single taken from “Satanic Majesties” was also included, in it’s edited form. There were also edited versions of “We Love You” and “Dandelion” - both songs originally had false fades, with an excerpt of the other side of the 7” appearing at the end of each song by fading in and out again - these excerpts were chopped from the versions included on the LP. Although “Street Fighting Man” was included, it was the album (not the single) mix that was included.

In the US, London reverted to type by issuing the album with a totally different tracklisting. There was no appearance of “We Love You” (edited or otherwise) and “Dandelion” appeared in unedited form. “Honky Tonk Women” appeared on both the US and UK editions, and although a stereo mix of this song exists, it is believed that this mix was not issued until 1989, and that the original mono single mix was used on “Through The Past”.

Unissued in US as at 14/9/1969

Come On, I Want To Be Loved, Stoned, Bye Bye Johnny, Money, Poison Ivy, Poison Ivy (EP Version), Fortune Teller, Everybody Needs Somebody To Love (Long), I Can’t Be Satisified, Got Live If You Want It EP (except I’m Alright, Route 66, I’m Moving On), Long Long While, Out Of Time (Unedited), What To Do, We Love You (Edit), Dandelion (Edit)

Unissued in UK

Tell Me (Edit), Time Is On My Side (Organ), Congratulations, Everybody Needs Somebody (Edit), Surprise Surprise, One More Try, Look What You’ve Done, Blue Turns To Grey, Sad Day, Got Live If You Want it LP, Out Of Time (Edit), My Girl, Ride On Baby, The Lantern (US Single Mix), Street Fighting Man (Single Mix)

By the end of 1970, the Stones had left Decca and London to release records on their own Rolling Stones Records imprint. Before doing so, they released one more studio and one more live album, which were identical in both the UK and the US.

Upon leaving the label, Decca started to release a series of albums cobbling together a mish mash of material that they had recorded during the 60s - some of it unreleased in the UK, most of it not. None of these releases had the backing of the band, although they did at least provide a home for some of the rarer material the band had recorded. “Stone Age” was the first, “Gimme Shelter” the second, although the latter was nothing more than a combination of material from the two live albums the band had already released in the US (“Got Live If You Want It” and “Get Yer Ya Yas Out”) - but in doing so, did at least give an official release in the UK to some of the “Got Live“ material.

On “Stone Age”, “Look What You’ve Done”, “Blue Turns To Grey”, “One More Try” and “My Girl” all finally got their first UK release. At around about the same time, Decca got round to releasing “Street Fighting Man” as a 7” in the UK. From what I can gather, the US single mix was not used for this release. On the “B-side“, another “unreleased in the UK” track, “Surprise Surprise” appeared and although the single was completed by the inclusion of “Everybody Needs Somebody To Love”, this was not the edited mix that had appeared in the US, but the original (and increasingly rare) mix from “No 2”.

Unissued in US as at 11/9/1971

Come On, I Want To Be Loved, Stoned, Bye Bye Johnny, Money, Poison Ivy, Poison Ivy (EP Version), Fortune Teller, Everybody Needs Somebody To Love (Long), I Can’t Be Satisified, Got Live If You Want It EP (except I’m Alright, Route 66, I’m Moving On), Long Long While, Out Of Time (Unedited), What To Do, We Love You (Edit), Dandelion (Edit)

Unissued in UK

Tell Me (Edit), Time Is On My Side (Organ), Congratulations, Everybody Needs Somebody (Edit), Sad Day, Got Live If You Want It LP (except Under My Thumb, Time Is On My Side, I’ve Been Loving You Too Long, Fortune Teller, Lady Jane, Satisfaction), Out Of Time (Edit), Ride On Baby, The Lantern (US Single Mix), Street Fighting Man (Single Mix)

Hot Rocks / Milestones / Rock N Rolling Stones / More Hot Rocks

Whilst The Stones were frowning upon Decca’s “rarities” albums, they gave their blessing to London’s “Hot Rocks” set - a double album greatest hits pack which contained no rarities, but did include a live version of “Midnight Rambler” instead of the original studio version.

The release of “Milestones” and “Rock N Rolling Stones” offered no previously unreleased material, but in the US, the “More Hot Rocks” set was filled with obscure material. The version of “Tell Me” was longer than the single edit, but seemed to be some ten seconds shorter than the album mix; “Out Of Time” was, yet again, the edited mix and “Dandelion” and “We Love You” were the UK edited mixes.

The first three sides of the set were in chronological order, but the final quarter was filled with material that was unreleased in the US - “Come On”, “Fortune Teller”, “Money”, “Bye Bye Johnny”, the “Saturday Club” version of “Poison Ivy”, the UK-only B-side “Long Long While” and the UK only album tracks “I Can’t Be Satisfied” and “What To Do“.

Unissued in US as at 12/12/1972

I Want To Be Loved, Stoned, Poison Ivy (EP Version), Everybody Needs Somebody To Love (Long), Got Live If You Want It EP (except I’m Alright, Route 66, I’m Moving On), Out Of Time (Unedited)

Unissued in UK

Tell Me (Edit), Time Is On My Side (Organ), Congratulations, Everybody Needs Somebody (Edit), Sad Day, Got Live If You Want It LP (except Under My Thumb, Time Is On My Side, I’ve Been Loving You Too Long, Fortune Teller, Lady Jane, Satisfaction), Out Of Time (Edit), Ride On Baby, The Lantern (US Single Mix), Street Fighting Man (Single Mix), Tell Me (3.52 mix)

No Stone Unturned

The fifth Decca retrospective was, more or less, the last. “No Stone Unturned” succeeded in making a pair of fairly notable rarities available in Britain. It included the US only B-sides “Congratulations” and “Sad Day”, the latter of which was even issued as an a-side in the UK in 1973, just before this LP was released.

With the exception of “Ride On Baby”, the only missing tracks in the UK now were alternate mixes of songs otherwise available. It was a slightly different story in the US, where several B-sides were still AWOL.

Unissued in US as at 6/10/1973

I Want To Be Loved, Stoned, Poison Ivy (EP Version), Everybody Needs Somebody To Love (Long), Got Live If You Want It EP (except I’m Alright, Route 66, I’m Moving On), Out Of Time (Unedited)

Unissued in UK

Tell Me (Edit), Time Is On My Side (Organ), Everybody Needs Somebody (Edit), Got Live If You Want It LP (except Under My Thumb, Time Is On My Side, I’ve Been Loving You Too Long, Fortune Teller, Lady Jane, Satisfaction), Out Of Time (Edit), Ride On Baby, The Lantern (US Single Mix), Street Fighting Man (Single Mix), Tell Me (3.52 mix)

Metamorphosis

Another strange one. Plans to release an LP of previously unreleased Stones outtakes was planned in 1972, but was abandoned in favour of the “More Hot Rocks” project. However, three years later, Decca and London both released this set - which despite consisting of over 13 songs, was not strictly a true Rolling Stones album. About half of the material was in fact a mix of demo recordings with sessions musicians, or the Andrew Loog Orchestra with Mick Jagger on vocals, but with a few other band members sometimes in the background. However, given that some of the band’s biggest hits had not necessarily featured all of the group (Charlie Watts did not play at all on “You Can’t Always Get What You Want), you can see why this was billed as a Stones rarities album.

Two singles were issued from the album, with B-sides also lifted from the record, one of which was a demo version of “Out Of Time”, but released as a Stones single, as opposed to a Jagger one. Two songs for some reason were left off the US version of the album - both were not “true Stones recordings“, and would not see the light of day in the States until the record was re-released in 2002.

Unissued in US as at 7/6/1975

I Want To Be Loved, Stoned, Poison Ivy (EP Version), Everybody Needs Somebody To Love (Long), Got Live If You Want It EP (except I’m Alright, Route 66, I’m Moving On), Out Of Time (Unedited), Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind, We’re Wasting Time

Unissued in UK

Tell Me (Edit), Time Is On My Side (Organ), Everybody Needs Somebody (Edit), Got Live If You Want it LP (except Under My Thumb, Time Is On My Side, I’ve Been Loving You Too Long, Fortune Teller, Lady Jane, Satisfaction), Out Of Time (Edit), Ride On Baby, The Lantern (US Single Mix), Street Fighting Man (Single Mix), Tell Me (3.52 mix)

The 1980s reissues

By this point in the band’s career, the Stones back catalogue was starting to become hard to get. From 1984 until 1987, US and UK editions of the band’s back catalogue were being pressed in numerous countries for re-release worldwide.

In 1987, London were responsible in the UK for reissuing all of the Decca era releases - but decided, in the main, to reissue the US versions of the albums. The only UK LP’s to be re-released on CD were “The Rolling Stones” and “Aftermath“ - meanwhile, “No 2” remained off catalogue, the US only LP’s “12x5”, “Now“, “Decembers Children”, “Got Live If You Want It” and “Flowers” were released in the UK for the first time, whilst the US versions of “Out Of Our Heads” and “Between The Buttons” were released instead of their UK counterparts. By doing this, it did give a UK release to a sizeable number of rarities. Of course, for albums that were identical in the US to their UK counterparts (ie. “Let It Bleed”), the reissue was the same as both editions.

Despite claims on Wikipedia that “Hot Rocks” and “More Hot Rocks” were not issued in the UK until 1990, they were actually issued at the same time as the remainder of the back catalogue, and although they were pressed in Germany, they did seem to be exported for sale in the UK - thereby giving an official release to the “3.52” version of “Tell Me”. Rather than issuing the two albums as double CD sets, each release was split into two volumes, and each volume was issued as a single CD. The two “Big Hits” sets, however, were not reissued. Both “Hot Rocks” and “More Hot Rocks” were indeed issued in the UK as double-CD sets in 1990.

Round about the same time in America, Abkco were given the responsibility of re-releasing the back catalogue. However, they decided to simply reissue the US pressings, meaning that the missing tracks (such as the unedited “Out Of Time”) were still missing.

Unissued in US as at 1/1/1988

I Want To Be Loved, Stoned, Poison Ivy (EP Version), Everybody Needs Somebody To Love (Long), Got Live If You Want It EP (except I’m Alright, Route 66, I’m Moving On), Out Of Time (Unedited), Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind, We’re Wasting Time

In my view, the ultimate Stones set - “The Singles Collection” was an Abkco release which included (more or less) every A and B side the band had released in both the UK and the US. Released as a 4 LP Box Set, Triple CD and Twin Double-Play Cassette in both countries, it therefore included mixes/tracks previously unavailable in those territories. The A-side of the 1970 Mick Jagger single “Memo From Turner” was also included, as were “Brown Sugar” and “Wild Horses” - despite the fact these singles were released after the band had left Decca and London, they had been recorded before the formation of the band’s own label (who released the songs) and were included as the rights to release them were shared between the band and Allen Klein, rather than the band and Decca or London. Wherever a single was issued in both countries with different flipsides, both flipsides were included. The set concluded with “Sympathy For The Devil”, after it appeared on the B-side of a 1976 reissue of “Honky Tonk Women” that was used to plug Decca’s “Rolled Gold” greatest hits collection.

In the UK, the release of the set resulted in an official release for the edited mix of “Tell Me” and the US single mix of “The Lantern” - but for some reason, the single mix of “Street Fighting Man” was passed over for the album version. In the US, the missing B-sides “I Want To Be Loved” and “Stoned” surfaced for the first time.

Although in most cases the original single versions were used (ie. “We Love You” was unedited, “You Can‘t Always Get What You Want“ was), there were a few quirks - notably the use of a new stereo mix of “Honky Tonk Women”, whilst over the years, the version of “Time Is On My Side” has alternated between the “Organ” and “Guitar” mixes with each reissue, as has the version of “Tell Me”. EP tracks, meanwhile, were completely excluded.

Unissued in US as at 16/8/1989

Poison Ivy (EP Version), Everybody Needs Somebody To Love (Long), Got Live If You Want It EP (except I’m Alright, Route 66, I’m Moving On), Out Of Time (Unedited), Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind, We’re Wasting Time

Unissued in UK

Street Fighting Man (Single Mix)

The 1995 Dual reissues

To coincide with the band’s “Voodoo Lounge” World Tour, Abkco were given the job of reissuing the band’s back catalogue in the UK. However, to the sheer horror of the purists, the label simply reissued the original US versions of the band’s LP’s - so “The Rolling Stones” was now consigned to history, as were the UK editions of “Aftermath” and “Out Of Our Heads”.

The main thrust of the reissue campaign was the release of a remixed version of “Got Live If You Want It” - the original LP had featured each song as an individual track (ie. The crowd fades out and then in between songs) but the remixed version altered this so that the crowd noise remained constant between each song.

If anything can be deemed to be “worthy” of this period, then it’s that at least “England’s Newest Hitmakers” was now easily available to UK fans.

Unissued in US as at 1/1/1996

Poison Ivy (EP Version), Everybody Needs Somebody To Love (Long), Got Live If You Want It EP (except I’m Alright, Route 66, I’m Moving On), Out Of Time (Unedited), Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind, We’re Wasting Time

Unissued in UK

Street Fighting Man (Single Mix)

The 2002 Remasters

Given that the treatment of the Stones back catalogue was deemed “inappropriate”, it was only a matter of time before Abkco decided to try and remedy the situation. They decided to reissue the back catalogue on a set of Hybrid CD/SACDs (the “never really took off” Super Audio CD format) - the disc contained two layers, and would know which layer your CD player could play.

Furthermore, to counter the criticism they received by reissuing the US versions of the LP’s in the UK in 1995, the decision was taken to reissue some of the albums in both their US and UK versions in BOTH countries.

However, certain albums did not get a “double reissue”. “The Rolling Stones” and “No 2” were not covered by the campaign, whilst only the US versions of “Big Hits“ and “Through The Past Darkly” were released, and not the UK ones.

Not only were the mixes of each disc on the SACD layer slightly different to the “normal” mixes, but several songs also appeared in new mixes on the CD layer - “12x5” offered up new stereo mixes of the “5x5” material and the “Organ” version of “Time Is On My Side”, “Now” had stereo mixes of “Heart Of Stone” and “Down The Road Apiece”, and “Big Hits” had stereo mixes of “Satisfaction”, the “Guitar” version of “Time Is On My Side” and “It’s All Over Now”. The stereo mix of “Heart Of Stone” from “Now” was also used on this set. Meanwhile, “Beggars Banquet” was completely different - the original album (and subsequent reissues) had been mastered at too slow a speed, and the 2002 reissue rectified the situation - about 3 seconds was stripped off each song on the album.

A box set, titled “Remastered Series” included all of the reissues, although where a CD had been given a double issue, only the UK edition was included, on the basis that the versions of “Aftermath” and “Out Of Our Heads” were deemed superior to their US editions.

The two “Hot Rocks” sets, and the “Singles Collection” were also reissued - “More Hot Rocks” was notable for including, as extra tracks, the EP mix of “Poison Ivy”, the “long” version of “Everybody Needs Somebody To Love”, and “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” from “Got Live If You Want It” - but with the fake crowd overdubs stripped off. “The Singles Collection” for some reason, featured different versions of “Tell Me” and “Time Is On My Side” than those included on the 1989 release.

In 2004 and 2005, Abkco released a trio of singles box sets in the US and the UK. Effectively, these included most of the material that had appeared on the “Singles Collection” release, but added a few items of bonus material - which had the effect of finally making available all of the missing material in both the UK and the US. Given that most Stones 45’s had appeared in picture sleeves in the US, each disc was (usually) housed in the US sleeve, but a few appeared in rather strange looking die cut sleeves, some of which made no attempt to re-produce the original Decca or London company bags (although some did), but simply included a new label design and a non-standard die cut sleeve - instant rarity time again.

The first box included not just the 2-track singles, but all of the band’s UK EP’s including the “Got Live If You Want It” EP, so the live versions of “Everybody Needs Somebody To Love” and “Pain in My Heart” got a debut Stateside release.

The third box set included “Street Fighting Man” - not only was this single issued in the famous withdrawn “Riot” sleeve, but the US only single mix was included, thus making it’s UK debut.

There was some artistic license in the final box set - the reissue of “Brown Sugar” was based on a 1984 reissue, whilst “Wild Horses” included the album mix of “Sway” on the B-side, when it had originally included an alternate mix when released as a US only single in 1971. The Jagger solo 45 “Memo From Turner” was included, as was the 2002 remixed reissue of “Sympathy For The Devil”. A bonus DVD EP was also included, making this the most essential of all three sets.

Listed below is the original UK Stones discography, from 1963 to 1975. Albums are listed first, then singles. Also included here are details of the three “Singles” box sets as they obviously replicate most of the singles list.

It’s worth pointing out that in 1980, Decca issued a 12 x 7” Box Set titled “Single Stones”, featuring a series of 45’s in identical sleeves. Each single featured on the A-side a track that had previously been issued as a single in the UK, but the B-side was not necessarily the original B-side, and in many cases, was actually another former hit. Over the years, each of the singles have surfaced at record fairs individually, as opposed to the box being issued as a complete item, but none of these singles were ever sold as such at the time. I am not 100% certain of what mixes were used in some cases, but the box basically consisted of the following:

The three singles box sets issued in 2004 and 2005 included both 2 track singles and EP’s from both the UK and the US, and are listed below. On the rare occasion where a UK b-side appeared as a US a-side, the track only appears in the set as an A-side (ie. It does not appear in the box twice on different discs):

Singles 1963-1965 (12 x CD, includes all releases from F11675 to DFE 8620, plus the US only releases “Tell Me”, “Time Is On My Side” and “Heart Of Stone”)Singles 1965-1967 (11 x CD, includes all releases from F12220 to F12654, plus the US only releases “As Tears Go By”, “Mothers Little Helper”, “She’s A Rainbow” and “In Another Land”)Singles 1968-1971 (9 x CD + DVD, includes all releases from F12782 to F13597 except “Sad Day“, plus the “Memo From Turner” Mick Jagger 7”, and the “Brown Sugar” and “Wild Horses” singles. Also included is the “Sympathy For The Devil” remix single from 2002, and a 4 track DVD single featuring TV appearances and promo videos)

Listed below are the CD editions of the band’s back catalogue issued by London in 1987. Despite all of these CD being pressed in West Germany, all seem to have been issued in the UK at the time - although you will see them being referred to as “German Pressings” on various websites. The booklets were all in English, and the London address for the “Phonographic Performance Ltd” company was listed on each. In the case of the single disc releases for “More Hot Rocks”, the tracklisting was altered so that the rarities that originally appeared on side 4 of the US vinyl pressing from 1972 were spread across both Volume 1 and Volume 2. Vinyl (and I think, Cassette) additions of all these are believed to exist, with the “-2” suffix replaced with “-1” for the vinyl, and “-4” for the cassettes. In the interests of completeness, the 1989 “Singles Collection” is also included in this list.

Listed below are the US/UK repressings from 1995. All were issued on Vinyl, Cassette and CD, and again, featured different suffixes for the different formats. The “Singles Collection” CD was also reissued with a new “844” catalogue number. The CD editions of the records originally released between 1963 and 1972 are listed below:

Listed below are the 2002 reissues - to differentiate between a US sleeve and a UK sleeve where both were being reissued, the reissues of the UK albums included a “UK” suffdix on the front of the sleeve - surely upsetting the purists!

I shall be looking at future Stones releases in forthcoming blogs, but the sheer madness of these releases could fill a book - and probably has on several occasions! So, listed below are more websites which go into further details about this fascinating period.

Thursday, 1 July 2010

I cannot think of another point in history where a pop star became so omnipresent as Madonna did during 1985. During this 12-month period, Madonna singles were being released from her new LP, “Like A Virgin”, and her 1983 self-titled debut, along with other 45’s released in connection with two movies she made an appearance in - “Vision Quest” and “Desperately Seeking Susan”. She appeared at Live Aid, made an un-planned appearance in “Penthouse” magazine due to some “pre-fame” nude photos, and got married. And all this before we even mention the release of the John ‘Jellybean’ Benitez “Sidewalk Talk” single, the US “Virgin Tour” concerts, and the reissue of both those first and second albums!

In this article, we look at all of Madonna’s singles released between the tail end of 1984 and the start of 1986 - in other words, all of the singles issued after the end of the “Madonna” album campaign but before the release of album number three, “True Blue”. As with the April 2010 blog, the article will list all known (and presumed) UK pressings, along with details of the German CD Single reissues from 1995, which attempted to replicate the 12“ releases. As ever, photos of the standard UK picture sleeves are shown, along with the CD edition where the photo was changed. 1985 also saw the first Madonna Picture Discs to be released in the UK, and these are also shown where appropriate. As ever, if you can spot any mistakes or wish to add any comments you think are relevant, you can do this at the end of the article or you can email me direct - once again, later reissues of any singles listed below will be discussed in future Madonna articles. All releases are on Sire, unless otherwise stated. For various complex issues, the “German” sleeves, if you click on them, will more than likely bring up a slightly different zoomed in photo of that “edition” (such as, say, a US 12” version) but they are here purely to show the actual picture used for the German pressings.

Like A VirginThe single that really turned Madonna into a superstar. “Like A Virgin” was the start of a continuous run of top 5 UK hits that lasted for nearly three years, but was also the beginning of a run of top 40 hits that continues to this day. Whilst the debut album seemed to exist of songs aimed at the clubs, which then had to be edited for 7” and Radio-play, the “Like A Virgin” singles were the opposite - four minute long pop songs, seemingly written with an eye on the charts, requiring them to be “extended” for the 12” versions.

For the 7”, the two tracks on either side were both lifted straight from the forthcoming album of the same name, whilst on the 12”, the album version of the A-side was replaced by an extended mix. As was so often the case with Madonna singles, the extended mix was titled differently in different countries, but was always exactly the same mix. Initial copies of the 12” came with a free poster, and were housed in a suitably stickered sleeve, but the catalogue number on both the sleeve and the vinyl was the same as the “poster-less” editions. This was the same for all other Madonna singles issued with free posters during 1985 (although singles housed inside fold out sleeves were different - more of that in a bit).

In Germany, the single was housed in a different sleeve - but one that was as equally attractive as it’s UK counterpart. The 1995 CD pressing, as such, uses this sleeve but features the same tracklisting as the UK edition.

Material GirlAnother single that, despite being an enormo-hit, is the subject of an unconfirmed format. As per “Like A Virgin”, three formats definitely exist - the 7” featuring album mixes of album tracks on the A and B sides, with the 12” edition replacing the album version of “Material Girl” with an extended mix. Again, initial copies came with a free poster.

The mythical format is the 2nd 7”. This supposedly featured the normal 7” housed inside a fold out posterbag sleeve, but despite regularly being listed on Madonna discographies over the years, nobody seems to own one. All that can be said is that if it DOES exist, then only the sleeve is collectable, because the vinyl would just have been the standard 7” used for the standard issue (as per the use of a standard 12” for the 12”-with-free-poster edition). If it does exist, then the catalogue number for the sleeve would be different to denote it being a fold out bag (Sire, at the time, denoted such pressings with an “F” suffix).

The 1995 edition from Germany uses the same sleeve and same tracklisting as the UK 12” edition - a good choice as the picture sleeve for this edition is stunning. In the US, the sleeve had a more “pop art” feel, with a small Madonna picture being reduced to a mere footnote in the bottom right cover. Boo!!!

Crazy For YouThe first of two tracks that Madonna recorded for the “Vision Quest” movie, in which she starred playing… well, a singer. Madonna was rumoured to have been asked to write (and indeed, may have recorded) a third song, but this never materialised. Such was the success of this song, that despite featuring a couple of future Hollywood stars in the form of Linda Fiorentino and Matthew Modine, “Vision Quest” was released on VHS soon after as “Crazy For You” instead.

The soundtrack was released by Geffen Records, who as such, issued this single - Madonna’s first to be released on a label other than Sire. Rather than include Madonna’s other soundtrack contribution on the flip, Geffen realised they could make a few quid by releasing that song, “Gambler”, as a single in it’s own right at a later date, and as a result, issued a non-Madonna song from the soundtrack on the B-side instead. Record companies aren’t stupid, you know.

As “Crazy For You” was a ballad, no 12” was issued in the UK, as the track was not suitable for the banging remix treatment, although some European countries issued it on this format seemingly for fun. However, Geffen did issue the single in the UK as a Shaped Picture Disc - the first such Madonna single to be issued in this format. For our younger viewers, a shaped picture disc is effectively a clear 12” disc, but with the grooves only pressed across the middle 7 inches in width, with a picture (often a random shape, sometimes a square or a rectangle) printed on the disc which, at it’s narrowest point, could be 7” in width, but at it’s largest, could be 12”. The disc is then cut around the shape. Many shaped picture discs often feature a photograph on the front (in Madonna’s case, it was usually always a picture of the lady herself), and as such, the artist’s name and the title of the single was often absent. Details would be on the rear of the disc, however. Because these items were desirable because of their artistic nature, they were rarely included in a picture sleeve, but would be housed in a clear PVC sleeve, so the actual disc would be on display in the shops. Most, if not all, would have a sticker on the front showing the name of the artist and the name of the A-side, although I will admit, I am not sure if all Madonna discs had these. Any offered for sale without stickers don’t tend to sell for less. The “Crazy For You” picture disc is quite a rarity, and has long sold for £50+. Uncut discs for all shaped picture discs exist - in other words, the original 12” disc with the photos and 7” grooves intact, but not cut around the shape. The value of these was usually estimated to be double the value of the normal shaped edition, but as these were factory test pressings, very few actually existed, and these estimated prices were far too conservative - you are looking at a four figure sum for an ’uncut’ “Crazy For You”. Shaped picture discs, in recent years, have been subject to “browning” - a random condition where the colours used for the photo on the disc cause the clear parts of the vinyl to discolour, and these discs are starting to sell for less than the unaffected pressings. All picture discs, however, are notable for featuring slightly inferior sound quality to their black vinyl cousins, although I can only recall seeing such a warning on just one picture disc in my entire life - and that wasn’t for a Madonna record at all.

Given that “Crazy For You” was not issued on Sire, there is no accompanying German CD Single reissue, although a bootleg CD single was issued in the UK (looking, at first glance, like it might be official) - but why you would want an unofficial copy of a single that can be picked up quite easily on 7”, is beyond me.

Into The GrooveOne of Madonna’s most famous songs, “Into The Groove” was originally tossed away as the B-side of the “Angel” 12” in the US. It had been recorded for inclusion in Madonna’s second movie, “Desperately Seeking Susan”, and after appearing in demo form in a scene in which Madonna dances to her own song, it was spruced up for it’s appearance on record. At this point in her career, Madonna was getting more famous by the day, and in the US, the appearance of new Madonna material was the subject of much excitement, and radio DJ’s took to flipping the 12” over to play the song. As the US Billboard Charts are based partly on airplay, “Into The Groove” started to appear on the charts - despite not being released as a single in it’s own right (a prelude to the current state where downloads of album tracks get to appear on the singles chart - horror of horrors!)

In other countries, the decision was taken to issue “Groove” as a proper single, including the UK. In a rather charming unplanned retro move, because the track had been recorded purely as a B-side, it was therefore not edited or extended for single release, and it didn’t matter which format you bought, you got the same mix of the track. Old album tracks were dished out as B-sides - “Shoo-Bee-Doo” on the 7”, with “Everybody” also on the 12” editions. Initial copies of the 12” came with a free “Desperately Seeking Susan” film poster.

Whilst a lot of Madonna’s picture discs over the years featured completely different pictures to the photos used on the picture sleeves of the black vinyl versions, “Groove” did not - and a shaped picture disc with a picture of Madonna and co-star Rosanna Arquette was used on both the picture disc and picture sleeve editions. There was at least one minor difference picture-sleeve-wise in other editions issued worldwide, but the German version was identical to the UK edition and the 1995 CD replicates the UK version in both sound and vision.

HolidayI don’t want to repeat too many of my thoughts on what versions of “Holiday” were or weren’t released back in 1983, but there will be a bit of a crossover in order to discuss the 1985 reissue. What has been confirmed since the April 2010 blog is that the “Borderline”/”Holiday” double pack does include a “Red Border” version of the “Holiday” 7”, which suggests this was pressed especially for the limited release.

The only two confirmed pressings for the 1985 issue were a black vinyl 12” and picture disc 12” - the latter, the first Madonna release in this format in the UK. The picture disc, like the shaped editions, was housed in a clear sleeve, whilst the black vinyl edition came in possibly the cheapest Madonna sleeve of all time - the same photo as the picture disc on a white background, and when I say the same photo, I mean it - the picture is inside a 12” circular disc! Both these editions feature the same basic catalogue number as the 1983 original, and the same tracklisting, but feature a 1983 publishing date with a 1985 copyright date.

The “train” sleeve that (in my view) was originally released as a 7” in 1983 has often been thought of as being issued in 1985 ONLY - but does not show a 1985 copyright date on the rear, so this seems unlikely. It’s possible copies were repressed, but why the 12” should change sleeves and not the 7”, is baffling. There was no reissue in hardly any other countries, so there’s no 1995 German Single for this release.

AngelDespite having been overshadowed in the States by it’s more famous B-side, “Angel” was still given a single release in the United Kingdom post-”Into The Groove”. The b-side in the UK was the “4.48 Album Mix” of “Burning Up” (part 1 of this article will explain what all that nonsense is about).

The 7” featured an edited version of the A-side - the 12” replaced this with an extended mix. There was also a shaped picture disc which featured the same songs as the 7”. Initial copies came with a free cardboard plinth - you would fold it into a sort of box, and you could fix your picture disc into the plinth - this did, of course, mean you could get your disc damaged if a drink went flying across the room, for example. “Angel” is one of only two Madonna singles to include a plinth, and even then, only initial copies had them - later pressings didn’t include one, and rather intriguingly, plinth-less editions usually sell for a fiver less.

Although “Angel” was issued in Japan in a nifty unique sleeve, the sleeve for the UK edition was also used in Germany, and as such, the 1995 CD pressing looks like it’s 1985 original. However, “Into The Groove” was issued as the B-side in Germany, and the 1995 edition subsequently features this instead of “Burning Up”.

GamblerThe second Geffen single, “Gambler” has gained a certain notoriety in Madonna circles, as it remains the only Madonna ‘hit’ originally released on vinyl only, to not be included on a Madonna album (“Crazy For You” was included, in various forms, on “The Immaculate Collection” and “Celebration”). Even the live version of the track on the 1985 “Virgin Tour Live” Video is hard to find, as the VHS has been deleted, and is not available on DVD.

Being more upbeat than “Crazy For You”, the song was issued on 12” but again, not being ones to miss a trick, Geffen spread the three mixes across two formats. The 7” featured the normal mix from the soundtrack LP on the A-side (with a non-Madonna song on the flip), but replaced this with two alternate mixes on the 12”. “Gambler” was also issued on 7” in a fold out poster sleeve - assuming the fold out “Material Girl” does not exist, this therefore was the first Madonna 7” to be issued in such a form. The sleeve had a different catalogue number, but the actual vinyl did not.

Again, being released on Sire means there is no German CD version - but once more, a pointless Bootleg CD exists. Avoid.

Dress You UpThe last Madonna 45 of 1985, “Dress You Up” was released at the same time as the “Virgin Tour Live” VHS, and the accompanying promo video was lifted straight from said release. Madonna doesn’t really do B-sides, so “I Know It” from the first album was stuck on the flipside.

For the 12”, the album version of “Dress You Up” which adorned the 7” was replaced by two remixes, and for the first time, a 12” posterbag edition was released - as with “Gambler“, the catalogue number was different on the actual sleeve to the bog-standard 12”, but actual labels showed the normal 12” catalogue number. Because of it’s size, these editions of the single rarely turn up in mint condition, primarily because the use of a paper sleeve, as opposed to card, usually sees the edges get a bit tatty - a shame, because the actual sleeve, when folded out, is astonishing.

A shaped picture disc was also issued, as a star-shaped Christmas tree decoration - it had a hole through one of the “points”, so you could hang it up on your Christmas tree. Whether or not anybody tried this is open to question. In Germany, the single seems to have been issued in the same sleeve, but for the 1995 CD version, was changed to the slightly inferior (but still quite cute) US sleeve with a different B-side.

Dress You Up/I Know It (W8848, 7”)Dress You Up (The Formal Mix)/(The Casual Instrumental Mix)/I Know It (W8848T, 12”)Dress You Up (The Formal Mix)/(The Casual Instrumental Mix)/I Know It (W8848TF, 12” in fold out poster-sleeve)Dress You Up/I Know It (W8848P, Star-shaped Picture Disc in clear sleeve)Dress You Up (The Formal Mix)/(The Casual Instrumental Mix)/Shoo-Bee-Doo (7599-20369-2, German CD Single, different p/s)

BorderlineHaving stalled outside the top 50 in 1984, Sire decided to reissue what is arguably Madonna’s greatest ever single to try and get it into the charts - and succeeded. Like the “Holiday” reissue, the basic catalogue number stayed the same, but this time, the same picture sleeve was used as well. The only difference between the reissue and the original was artwork differences on the back sleeve, with the reissue also making reference to Madonna’s debut LP as “The First Album”, as opposed to just “Madonna”.

As before, there was a 7” and 12” version, but this time around there was no “Borderline”/”Holiday” double pack, but a Shaped Picture Disc instead with the single mix of “Borderline” backed with the heavily edited 7” version of “Physical Attraction”. I am not 100% certain what differences are on the labels of the reissue - any showing a reference to “Brampton Music Ltd” are believed to be a 1984 pressing only, but don’t quote me on that. The labels for the 1986 release may refer to either “The First Album” or “Madonna” - again, I am not too sure. Being a reissue, there is no CD Single version from Germany for the 1986 edition of “Borderline”, as it would have looked and sounded just like the reissue of the 1984 version.

Sidewalk TalkI wouldn’t normally bother with “guest spots” on record, but this Jellybean 45 is worth it. Whilst some Madonna fans will get overly excited by the fact that she can just about be heard somewhere in the background of Nick Kamen’s “Each Time You Break My Heart”, “Sidewalk Talk” is actually a duet between Madonna and another singer (the details aren’t too important in the context of this article).

The single appeared in different sleeves in different countries, in the UK the cover proudly displayed “written by Madonna” but seemed to make no mention of the fact that she also sang on it. The 7” featured the original mix, the 12” an extended version. The B-side on each was a Jellybean instrumental (a cover of Cat Stevens’ “Was Dog A Doughnut”, with no Madonna present).

As before, this blog will continue in three issues time with a look at the Madonna singles issued between mid 86 and the end of 1988 - the “True Blue” period, in effect. And again, listed below are a series of selected non UK singles from the 1984 - 1986 period, although they also cover release dates from after 1986. A link to the site “Madonna Records” is listed thereafter, which contains scans of all the 45s listed below. For any singles listed above that were reissued in the UK at a later date, these will be discussed in a future article looking at Madonna’s post-1990 single releases. Please note - this list is by no means exhaustive, but cherry picks the releases from outside of the UK that offered different sleeves, and the odd exclusive mix. Many of these singles were also issued as sleeve-less promos, or indeed, sleeve-less commercial releases, but only those with rare mixes are listed. I have also included some additional pressings of singles from the debut LP, which although they relate, in this blog, to singles that of course were only issued in 1985 in a “reissued” format, are worth a mention (all the “debut album” releases were originally from 1983/84).

SELECTED RARITIES 1984-1986

Angel (LP Version)/(Dance Mix Edit) (P-1973, Japanese 7”, unique p/s with B-side mix never released in UK)Borderline (7” Remix)/Think Of Me (P-1852, Japanese 7” in unique p/s)Borderline (7” Remix)/Think Of Me (18.084, Brazilian 7” in unique “cross-earring” p/s)Dress You Up (LP Version)/(Remix Edit) (7228919, US Promo 7” in company sleeve, B-side mix never issued in UK)Dress You Up/Shoo-Bee-Doo (P-2009, Japanese 7” in unique p/s)Dress You Up ~ Ain’t No Big Deal (WPCP 3438, Japanese CD Mini-Album, includes 12” and Instrumental versions of “Dress You Up”)Holiday/Think Of Me (0-20173, Australian 12” in unique pink p/s)Holiday (LP Mix)/(Edit)/I Know It (WBM 53, South African 12” in “titles” p/s)Holiday (Edit)/I Know It (18.075, Brazilian 7” in same p/s as “Madonna” LP. Italian 7” exists with different B-side, and same photo but zoomed in and slightly angled.)Holiday (Edit)/I Know It (P-1831, Japanese 7” in “sunglasses” p/s)Holiday (Edit)/I Know It (92 9478-7, 1985 Italian reissue 7”, in same sleeve as “The First Album”)Into The Groove/Angel (DS-033, Philippines 12” in unique p/s, Cassette version also issued in “Angel“ p/s)Into The Groove/Shoo-Bee-Doo (601.7052, Brazilian 7” in unique “Susan” p/s)Into The Groove/Who’s That Girl (Extended Mix)/Causing A Commotion (Silver Screen Mix) (7599 21141 2, German CD Single from circa 1988, unique p/s, issued as both 3” and 5”)Into The Groove/Dress You Up (9 00539-4, US “Backtrax” reissue single, late 80s, issued in at least two different coloured sleeves)Into The Groove/Dress You Up (2-539, US CD Single, in ‘Vinyl’ style p/s)Into The Groove/Dress You Up (GSRE 0539, US “Back To Back” AA-side 7” in white die cut sleeve)Like A Virgin (LP Mix)/(LP Mix) (PRO-A-2172, US Promo 12” in unique “Graphics” p/s)Like A Virgin (Extended Dance Mix)/(Extended Dance Mix) (PRO-A-2223, US Promo 12” in “Madonna on Bed” p/s)Like A Virgin/Stay (P-1887, Japanese 7” in same p/s as “Like A Virgin” album)Like A Virgin And Other Big Hits! (P-6206, Japanese 12” Mini-Album, includes extended mixes of “Virgin”, “Borderline”, “Lucky Star” and LP version of “Holiday”)Love Don’t Live Here Anymore/Over And Over (P-2041, Japanese only 7”)Material Girl (Jellybean Dance Remix)/Pretender (9 20304-0, US 12”, “Pearls” p/s)Material Girl/Pretender (P-1943, Japanese 7” in same p/s as “Live A Virgin“ UK 7“)Material Girl (Jellybean Dance Remix)/Into The Groove/Angel (Extended Dance Mix) (P-5199, Japanese 12” in “Angel” p/s)Material Girl/Angel (GSRE 0507, US “Back To Back” AA-side 7” in white die cut sleeve)Over And Over/Borderline (92 8737-7, Italian 7”, not issued as A-side in UK)